Opinion of Practicing Journalists in Port Harcourt on the Effects of Private Ownership of Media on News Reportage in Nigeria (Published)
This study evaluates the opinions of practicing journalists in Port Harcourt on the effects of private ownership of media on news reportage in Nigeria. In conducting the study, four research questions and three hypotheses were raised to guide the research. Gramsci’s theory of Hegemony and the Authoritarian theory provided theoretical support from the major variables in the study. A cross-sectional quantitative study design was adopted for this study. This design was deem fit for the study because it allowed the researchers to collect data from multiple individuals at a single point in time. The population of this study was 204 journalists in private media outlets in Rivers State, from where a sample size 135 utilized. After the analysis, the results showed that bribery and corruption were seen to significantly affect the opinion of journalists in private owned media outfits because of their vulnerability to these vices due to irregularity and inconsistency in remuneration by their proprietors. More so, findings revealed that the overbearing influence and control of the owners dictates that the opinion of these journalists which are further influenced by the religious sentiments of the proprietor(s) and goes to show that there is a significant effect of religious sentiments on the opinion of practicing journalists in Port Harcourt on news reportage. Finally, it was found that most of these privately owned media outfits are opened for the advancement of the political and economic interests of their owners which in turn influences the opinion of the journalists. Based on this findings, it was recommended that that private media entrepreneurs should endeavor to pay the salaries of their journalists regularly and provide other incentives and amenities always. Again, that media owners should limit their involvement and overbearing influence the newsroom and allow for the editorial board to perform its basic functions in line with the ethics and codes of the profession.
Keywords: Effects, Journalists, media news reportage, opinion, private ownership
National Security and Journalism Practice: Emerging Considerations for Nigerian Journalists (Published)
National security has in recent times become a planetary concern with the security beat even more daunting for journalists. This has therefore necessitated the need to streamline the ethical issues involved in covering national security with a view to averting the disclosure of information that may create bedlam, cause damage and endanger national security. The nature of study was thematic and this necessitated focus group discussions among select journalists and officials of some law enforcement agencies in Nigeria. Discussions however revealed that most journalistic reports tend to blur the line of distinction between the right to know and the need to know. This was equally found to be borne out of a marketing concern by newspaper proprietors to have headlines that will sell their papers. Conversely, it was also found that some government officials, in the guise of national security, overtly classify information bits that ought not to be classified. Drawing from the foregoing, it was recommended that journalists should develop checklists that will ensure that national security reports must predominantly be devoid of technical and location details that are capable of putting lives and programmes in jeopardy. It was further recommended that news reports on national security must be truthful, accurate and must also be backed by a compelling need to reveal it in an ethical manner in contradistinction to wanton disregard.
Keywords: Ethics, Information, Journalists, National, Security